Sport(s) in the USA

For those of you who have never set foot into the United States or seen any USA sport on television prepare to be amazed about our American Culture around sports. Here in the US, football, and baseball are probably the three most predominant sports. According to CBS Sports: "Football and  baseball are the two most popular sports in America. These two sports have some shared characteristics. Two shared characteristics are that men engage in these activities, and these two sports are highly commercialized and can be seen on television. What is amazing about these two sports, are the fan bases behind them. In America, we support our local/state teams. If you are from Denver, there is a giant chance that you support the Denver Broncos and the Colorado Rockies.These are our "home" teams.

Let's take a closer look at the Denver Broncos. On a typical Sunday night in Colorado, most Coloradans are dressed in Bronco apparel and are sporting orange and/or blue. Americans choose to wear sports apparel to not only show support towards a team, but to show their spirit and pride towards a local group of athletes. Lately I have noticed that on social media many people participate in bad mouthing other teams. For example, if the Denver Broncos lost to the New England Patriots there would be some profane name calling and bad mouthing Patriot fans from Broncos fans. This activity has almost been normalized. I see adolescents and adults participating in this across Facebook and Twitter. According to Jay Coakley in Sports in Society, he explains that by looking through a sociological lens, we can see how sports have a culture: "Overtime every team creates a and maintains a particular culture or way of life" (Coakley 4). Being supporters/fans, are in a way part of the team spiritual. In doing so we are part of that teams culture. The American society then has a culture that says it is okay to be rude to the winning team if you lose. While this shows our support for our local teams, this normalizes bad sportsmanship through our sports culture. 

Aside from showing support for a team, let's look closer at the athletes on the team. In America we measure success based on how much money you are paid, how popular you are, and sometimes if you are attractive. We see that most professional athletes are paid large amounts of money; however, the popular professional athletes get even more money. In America we believe that popular athletes equates to athletes who are athletically talented. Very rarely is there a lot of attention on a professional athlete who struggles within his/her sport. Ultimately Americans equate success with popularity. 

While you may feel that sports in the USA is different from what you are used to, this is how it is America. We are die hard fans who will support popular male professional baseball and football players. I hope after reading this post, you feel more informed about Sports in the USA! Until next time!

References:

Coakley, Jay. Sports in Society. 10th Ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009. Print.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/21511690/poll-finds-baseball-as-secondmost-popular-american-sport